If you’re looking for some tea to go with your post-holiday fruitcake, or just some tea that tastes a bit like holiday fruitcake, brew up a cup of Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter to Tea.
This black tea smells sweet in the dry left and in the brew. The taste of the blend is not too sweet, mainly driven by the appropriately clean and tart breakfast black tea base. There is a hint of juicy pear with each sip, and a touch of ginger heat behind the pear. The ginger is not too spicy, mainly adding a little herbal flavor and sweetness to make the tea feel festive. I don’t taste any buttery cake or pastry flavors, just pear and ginger.
It’s possible that my small sample wasn’t at peak freshness or maybe I just needed a bigger serving of tea leaves to get the flavor intensity I was looking for. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this blend in the future and give it another try.
This is a gently flavored blend, but very drinkable. There are not many pear teas on my shelf, so this was a nice brew to have in my mug.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White/Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description:
Sweet pastry with pear, spicy ginger, and cinnamon and clove accents.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Stylish and Spicy: Chai du Kerala from #Nunshen
It goes without saying that a big part of drinking tea is the smell and taste of a good brew, but sometimes the presentation and design of the product can be a nice diversion. This tea from Nunshen arrived in a sleek, modern, well-designed packet. The bilingual instructions come with plenty of stylish symbols alongside the English and French, describing the temperature, brew times, leaf type, and the mood of the tea (Chai du Kerala is marked as, “relaxing”). The muslin teabag adds a soft, handmade touch to the whole experience.
The dry tea and the brew both smell strongly of natural cinnamon sticks, warming up the whole room. It’s a chai tea, and it has the expected heat and spice without being too cluttered. This tea is deceptively fragrant, following me around the house from the kettle to my chair in wafting waves of cinnamon. There is not too much ginger, just enough to add dimension to the cinnamon flavor, and both spices meld well with the earthy, malty, black tea base.
The tea’s package even numbers the blend, like a perfume or a vintage. Chai du Kerala is no. 91 in the flavor listing from Nunshen. With a sleek design and quality tea, I can’t way to try all the other numbered flavors!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Nunshen
Description: Love, healing and happiness go hand in hand as you sip on this unique blend. Hints of citrus and earthy tones will recover peace of mind and restore your well being.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Travel the World with #SirStuartBlackAndGreen from #Kent&Sussex Tea Co.
Sometimes I try out unflavored teas with one kind of leaf, and a flavor that all about the purity of the process. And sometimes I try out teas that are exactly the opposite– just like today’s blend, Sir Stuart Black and Green.
This tea has both black and green tea leaves, three types of flower petals, and rich spices like cardamom, fennel and ginger. Visually, this blend is full of diverse colors and shapes, and the smell of the dry leaf is luscious and complex. It smells like someone lit floral incense in a kitchen, where other smells like fennel or orange peel are being mixed together as someone starts cooking.
The flowers are most prominent in the scent of the tea, with bergamot and sweet orange dominating the taste. The flavors of the tea leaves themselves are minimal: no grassy greens and no bitter blacks. Instead, the varied ingredients list really dominates the flavor spotlight.
As I drank the tea, more of the unexpected herbs like fennel or cardamom popped up in the taste and smell, though the ginger was slow in arriving. I finally got some of my favorite buzzy, spicy mouthful from the ginger after I let the teabag steep beyond the recommending steep time. Overall the blend is sweet without being cloying, and the bright citrus lingers on the tongue without being to tart.
According to Tea & Coffee, this blend is named after the well-travel Sir Stuart Cleary of Cranbrookshire. With all the varied treasures and eye-catching beauties hidden within this tea blend, it feels like a bounty gathered from exploring the reaches of the world.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: Kent & Sussex Tea Co.
Description:
Sir Stuart a fine Black Tea and Green Tea. A flavoured Tea with hints of Bergamot and Orange. Named after the explorer Sir Stuart Cleary of Cranbrookshire following a trip to the Orient. A beautiful looking loose leaf tea with magical flavours when brewed. A Fruity aroma combined with Spicy Ginger and Fennel create something special and fresh tasting. Ingredients Black Tea, Green Tea, Ginger pieces, Fennel, Cardamom seeds, Natural flavouring, Rose petals and Cornflower blossoms.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Don Quixotea by Novelteas
I steeped one very heaping teaspoon of dry leaves in one cup of 210 degree water for about 4.5 minutes. (I decided to be generous with the amount of leaves I put in, probably because it just smelled so amazing and I was in the mood for something strong.) I could see whole cloves and bits of cinnamon bark in the dry leaves of this tea–lots of them.
I always enjoy trying out new chai blends and seeing which spices come to the front and how the chosen spices blend together and so on. This one seems to be heavy on the spice bits and relatively light on the black tea bits, and the spices include plenty of cinnamon and ginger.
After steeping: Cinnamon does seem to be a prominent flavor, going by the smell of the steeped tea. It’s remarkably light in color for a chai, with a sweet rich smell (not just spicy but deeper and sweeter) and has an orangey tint also.
First sip: As foreshadowed by the scent, some of the spices are sweet! The sweet smoothness is what I notice first. The spiciness isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t hit until the sip reaches the back of the mouth. I think I’m mostly tasting clove, cinnamon, and ginger. (There’s pepper in the blend too but not too much.)
With milk: as expected, this delivers a much more well-rounded cup. It’s still not very spicy though. My personal preference would be to steep this one much stronger next time as I consider it fairly mild when steeped to these specs. And I’d probably steep it in milk instead of steeping it first and then adding milk.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: NovelTeas
Description
Join book-lovers and tea-lovers alike and take up your arms to a cup of our traditional organic chai spices – red cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and the root of ginger.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Have a cup on Lord Grantham with Downton Abbey Tea Blends #RebpulicofTea
Grantham Breakfast Blend is one of the Downton Abbey themed teas from The Republic of Tea. This blend is built from a strong assam base with added ginger, meant to be masculine and just a touch fiery. The ginger came to life right as I poured hot water on the leaves, surprising me with an almost-chai smell for a moment. As the tea steeped and cooled, the assam really took the lead, providing deep and malty black tea tones.
This tea echoes Lord Grantham, pictured on the tin, clad in upper-class white-tie attire. Both the man and the tea are strong enough to help you power through an early morning of managing accounts, spicy enough to manage bold daughters, and warm enough to provide comfort during a family tragedy.
After trying this flavor, I had to take a look at the other Downton Abbey blends on Republic of Tea. They have several options, a few of which include Miss Patmore’s Pudding, black tea with vanilla sponge cake flavors, English Rose hibiscus tea for the lady-like sisters, and Downton Abbey Estate Earl Grey, for your more traditional tea outings.
These teas would be great for a Downton-themed tea party of your own!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Republic of Tea
Description:
Full-bodied, malty, organic Assam black tea is infused with the spicy flavor of organic ginger root. Try with a splash of warm milk and sweetener for a flavor reminiscent of sticky ginger pudding. This energizing tea is perfect for an early morning foxhunt or preparing for the dramas of the day.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!